Life Depressing
by Starkidtheatregeek
Summary: When the girls are in a horrific car crash and Lauren hasn't woken up yet, what will a desperate Joe Walker do to get her back? And what will her conscious unconscious mind make of it?
1. Wrecking Life

"Why won't she pick up?" a very disgruntled and worried Joe demanded, "She always picks up!"

"Have you thought to consider she might be busy?" Darren asked.

"Busy with what? We were all supposed to get together today! Then all the girls bailed, and I'm just calling to find out why!" his frustration was coming mostly from the fact that he was very worried about Lauren, no one had heard from her in a couple of days.

"Try Meredith," Joey whispered to Brian.

"No use, I've been trying her for a while."

"Julia won't answer either," Darren added.

"I bet they're all just out for manicures, or something," Joe tried to reassure himself, "yeah, manicures, their hands would be occupied, so they can't answer or answer or text back,"

"Joe, no offense, but that's stupid. The girls would tell us what they were doing if that's what they were doing."

"I'm going to call again," he pressed the 2 button to call Lauren. It rang seven times before the voicemail picked it up.

"Did somebody call Lauren Lopez? Sorry, she's busy now; she will probably get back to you soon! Leave a message at the beeeeep!"

"Lo, you guys bailed on us, and we don't know why, give me a call back?" he didn't bother saying who it was, he had already left enough messages to get that across.

"Joe, calm down," Dylan said reassuringly, "I'm sure they're fine."

"Dylan, I wouldn't talk too soon," Joey said, pointing at Darren, his face showed pain and worry.

"What is it?" Joe demanded, Darren waved him away.

"Yeah, thanks Devin, we'll be over soon. Bye." He hung up and looked around at the anxious faces, "We gotta get to the hospital."

Joe was up and out of the restaurant before Dylan was done talking to the waiter and handing over the money. By the time everyone else was coming out, his seat belt was buckled and the engine started. Darren, Joey, Dylan, and Brian piled in, all looking equally worried. "What happened? Why do we have to go to the hospital?" he asked as he pulled out and speeded down the road.

"They got in a wreck. They were going through on a green light and some idiot ran the red light into the traffic, kid hit them, they spun out and hit another car, nasty wreck…"

Joe slowed down, thinking it would be better to get there as visitors and not patients, "They all can't fit in one car, who was in it? Obviously not Devin."

"Ah, Julia," Darren looked pained at this, "Meredith," he look apologetically at Brian, "Jamie-Lyn," a non-committal noise escaped Joey's lips, "and Lauren."

Joe had known it was coming, but it was still a shock.

"Joe!" Dylan yelled.

Blinking to clear his vision, Joe saw the car in front of him had stopped, and he slammed on the brakes, narrowly missing them ending up in the hospital too. He vaguely heard the conversation in which Joey, Darren, and Dylan had.

"So Sango, Denise, Devin, Britney, and All were in the other car, saw the whole thing, but didn't get hurt?"

"Yeah, Britney called 9-1-1 as soon as she saw the other car coming, and Denise stopped the car as well. The whole intersection was blocked for about an hour and a half. The girls who got hurt are all in the hospital, some are doing better than others."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, Jamie-Lyn is doing pretty well, just a couple broken bones, I think. Meredith is beat up pretty bad, still unconscious from what Devin told me."

"How 'bout Lauren?" somebody asked quietly.

"The worst, the first car slammed right into where she was, the doctors think she might have a concussion. She's got some broken ribs, and she is till unconscious too."

Joe groaned, and then pulled into the parking lot. No sooner was the car off, then he was sprinting towards the emergency room. He entered the building, breathless, and demanded to know if he could see the girls.

"They've been transferred to the overnight ward. You'll have to go there."

On his way out, Joe relayed the information to everybody else, and they all ran over. When they finally made it out of the elevator, a ride that seemed like an eternity, they saw the girls who hadn't crashed and rushed over to them. "Can we see them?" Joe asked anxiously.

"No, not yet, we can't even see Julia, who's doing the best." Britney answered.

"I knew something was wrong! What were you guys doing that you couldn't tell us?"

"Well, it's you and Darren's birthdays this week, so we were planning a party. Then that stupid teenager just had to run the red light! I mean, it was obvious!"

An uncomfortable silence fell around the room, everyone waiting to be let in. Finally, after what seemed like hours, a nurse came out. Joe stood up and walked over with Devin to find out what she had to say.

"Ok, everyone is conscious and doing fine, except for Miss Lopez. So you can come now. Room 8, right down the hall, it's a community room, we figured such close friends could handle it."

Joe ran down the hall, wanting to see Lauren, make sure they weren't hurting her any more. He reached the room, took a deep breath and turned the handle and walked in. Most of the girls were sitting up, and Julia pointed to the bed in the corner and said weakly, "over there." Joe crossed the room in a couple strides, and had his heart wrenched from his chest as he looked at Lauren, seeing the obvious pain she was in. She had multiple tubes going into her, and she looked even tinier than normal. Bruises were forming on her arms, legs and face, she had a black eye. Her brown hair was twisted and tangled from the afternoon's events, and Joe wanted nothing more than her to wake up.


	2. Keep it Cool

The world was spinning before his eyes, seeing her like this made him want to hurt someone, but he couldn't, not at all, and especially not in front of the already fragile girls.

"Joe, she'll be fine, as soon as she wake up, she'll be fine." Julia tried to reassure him.

"How do you know? What if she's never the same?"

"Buddy," this time it was Dylan, "I think you need to take a break."

"I just got here!"

"Yes, I know, but you need one," under his breath he added, "and you can't get worked up like this in front of them, they have to recover too."

Reluctantly, Joe let himself be led out. Several minutes later, his pulse returned to normal speed, and Dylan asked, "Do you think you can handle it? Just try to talk to the other girls, but, ah, don't interrupt Brian and Meredith."

"Are they?" Dylan simply nodded.

They went back in, and Joe avoided looking at the bed in the corner, and went and talked to Julia. "You ok?" and the conversation proceeded naturally from there, but Joe couldn't help but notice she kept looking over at Darren, and finally asked, just a little irritated, "Do you want to talk to Darren?"

She looked guilty, "Sorry Joe, but, yeah, I do, we were kind of in the middle of an important conversation."

"No, it's fine," it really was, but he was letting his worry turn into irritation at the world. He finally went over to talk to Britney, "Well this is a little awkward," he said gesturing at the couples throughout the room.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, but if Lauren was awake, you would be a culprit too."

"Probably, I just wish she would wake up."

"We all do, Walks. Now why don't you go out and let Sango come in, you can talk to Dylan."

"Ok," and with a last look at the bed in the corner, her left the room.


	3. Self Fulfilling Prophecy

**Oh my gosh, guys, thank you for all the support of this story! This is the last really normal chapter, I started writing this in first period a couple days ago, and then I decided that I would turn this into my project for Social Studies, because I hadn't started on it yet. It's a Great Depression project, so it's gonna stray from the normal path of LaurWalkers. And the other chapters are going to change a little, too, mostly grammar because my best friend has appointed herself my editor, so yeah, I don't know how much it will change. Thanks again for all the support!**

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><p>Everyone, save Brian, was gathering in the waiting room to discuss the matter of who else would spend the night to keep company. In about ten minutes, the options were narrowed down to Darren, Joey, and Joe.<p>

"I think either Joey or Joe should stay as well as Brian. Two people are allowed to stay because there are four people in the room," Dylan reasoned.

"Well, Jamie-Lynn is doing pretty well and Lauren is still out, so I think Joe should stay, try to encourage Lauren to wake up," Devin added.

"Well, I guess we should put it to a vote," Darren said, obviously a little disappointed he wasn't going to be staying, "all in favor of Joe staying," every hand went up, "all right, Joe is staying. So let's just go say bye, I guess. Tell them we'll be back tomorrow."

When everyone else had left except for Devin and Dylan, Joe walked over to them and said, "Can you two read each other's minds?"

"No, but we can plan what to say together," Devin answered.

"We figured that you would be the best to stay for Lauren, seeing as you're best friends and all, maybe you being there could, I don't know, will her to wake up?"

"Maybe, but I don't know if she can hear me."

"You never know."

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><p>Half an hour later, everyone except Brian had left, and Joe walked back into the room, greeting everyone. Julia smiled and said, "We know you're here for Lauren, so it won't hurt our feelings if you don't pay attention to any of us."<p>

"Naw, you've been entrusted to my care, all of you, so I gotta talk to ya!" he said lounging onto the hard hospital chair next to her bed, "So, how's it going?"

"How do you think?" Jamie-Lynn replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, bad question….well this is fun!"

"Sure…"

"So, are you and Darren an item yet?" Joe asked Julia in his best imitation of a gossiping girl.

"No! We're just friends!" she said, trying to conceal the blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Although, I do think that Meredith and Brian aren't to far from it," he stage-whispered, throwing a pointed glance at the couple holding hands. Brian threw a glare in their direction, and Meredith just giggled, Joe waved back innocently.

"Well, I think that I'll be going to bed now," Jamie-Lynn yawned.

"That's a good idea," Julia agreed mischievously. They laid down, and tucked themselves in, and Joe walked over to Lauren's bed.

She was in the same shape as the last time he had seen her, bad. He dragged the chair over, sat down, and took her hand in his.

"Hey big girl, wake up, we need you here, I need you here, it isn't the same without you. You're strong, I know you are, and you can wake up, please wake up!" Joe pleaded, "C'mon, life just isn't the same! If you die, I'll die too!" Joe didn't see everyone smirking at each other behind him, they had known that the two were destined for each other since they had first met. In time, they fell asleep, and so did Joe, still holding Lauren's hand.


	4. Dreams

**Hi guys, sorry this story took a while to continue, I've been super busy. This chapter might have a too many facts for you, but I think that I rewrote in a way that gets there to not be so much of that. I used this for a school project on the Great Depression. What happens is that the great Depression bit is Lauren's dream. There will be more of it in later chapters. Thanks for all the support!**

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><p>Lauren woke up in her bed, except, it wasn't her bed, it was smaller and harder, and the room looked way old-fashioned. There was no way that this was her house. She sat up, rather painfully, and vaguely wondered why, but then discovered why the bed was so much smaller.<p>

"Joe?" she breathed.

He rolled around and faced her with those electric blue eyes, "Yeah?"

"Umm, why are we here? This isn't either of our houses."

"Well, it's a place to stay, and seeing as we have nothing else, it has to do. And why did you call me Joe? That's an odd name, my name is Joseph."

"Right, but Joe comes from _Jo_seph," but by now, she had realized that something was wrong. The room was completely wooden, the style of pajamas they had on was very twenties, and the bed was much harder than any bed back home would be. That's when it hit her, she wasn't home.

"Remind me why we're here, Joe," she asked politely.

He sighed, "Well, it started with the stock market crash, we lost all of our money, I couldn't sell the stocks as high as I needed to to make money, so they got sold at very low prices, causing us to lose money. Well, they expected payment right away, so we had to sell our house and our car, and Brian and Meredith were gracious enough to let us stay at their house. It's all those farmers fault! If they could have just dealt with the low prices of their goods, they wouldn't have protested and dumped their milk and, argh! I guess we just wouldn't be so hungry."

Lauren had figured out that she was in the Great Depression, she just couldn't figure out why, it was all so strange. "But they were already not getting very much money, so when the stock market crashed, they got even less, and now they're starting to get kicked out of their farms, you can't really blame them."

"No, I suppose not," Joe replied wearily, "It was just awfully selfish of them, 'cause even though a lot of people were getting rich, there were still a lot of poor people."

Lauren tried to remember what she knew about the Great Depression, which wasn't much, but she tried, she made a confused face.

"We've been over this before, Lauren, buying on the margin means that we borrowed most of the money we used to buy stocks, so when the market crashed, we had to pay that back, and that's why we're broke."

"Right…" It was all starting to come back to Lauren, how Joseph had been fired, along with almost everyone else in the company, how for a while they had been living in Hoovervilles, and waiting in food lines.

It had been rough, Joseph was pretty confident that he wouldn't lose his job like the 12 million other people in the country, but no, he had, and now the two were broke. The food lines were awful too, waiting in line for hours on end while getting trampled by men who hadn't ever gone without a meal and couldn't bear missing another one. And the Dust Bowl too, it had ruined their house for the next inhabitant, and caused Joseph to make the move to Chicago.

All Lauren remembered of the day the dust storm came to their house was that she had looked out the window, seen it, and yelled for Joseph to get inside, and then it had struck. The dust knocked up against the walls, and some got in the house, she must have collapsed from worry, because the next thing she remembered was being in bed with Joe holding a wet rag on her forehead. "Well, there goes our farm house, at least we've got other houses," he attempted to joke.

It was still fuzzy, she wasn't sure why she was there, and she knew she didn't belong here. It was all foreign; she kept expecting to see something from her real life that would take her back. She reached to the bed side table on instinct, not knowing what she would find. Her fingers grasped at empty air, and Joe looked at her, concerned.

"You are not feeling well, are you?"

"I don't know! I feel completely out of place," she said a little hysterically.

"I am going to go get Meredith, maybe she will know what to do. Stay here."

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><p>Joe woke up with a cramped neck from sleeping in the hospital chair. He looked over at Lauren to see if she had woken up yet, and was disappointed. Looking around the room, he saw Dylan looking at him, concerned. "Is there bad news from the doctor?"<p>

"No, nothing from him, but maybe you should take a break, get some food."

"I'm not leaving until she leaves! I might miss her wake up!"

"You'll have to go to the bathroom at some point."

Joe realized that he did have to go, and said, "Alright, but if she moves, you call me, I'm just going to piss."

"Fine."

On the way out, Joe ran into the doctor, "Ah, Mr. Walker, I see you're up."

"Good observation. Anything new on Lauren?"

"Not yet, I'm going to checkup on her."

"Just, make sure she comes back, please," he pleaded in a pained voice.

"I wish I could promise you that," he said, pityingly.

Joe walked down the hall and did his business, and returned to the room. The room was abuzz with activity, half of his friends had returned, and the doctor was checking on all of the machines Lauren was attached to.

"Mr. Walker, I think that you'll be delighted to know that her brain is in perfect working order, it is, in fact, dreaming at this current moment! But," he continued, seeing the impatient look on Joe's face, "we don't know when she'll wake up, or if she will, for that matter.

It felt like that world fell on Joe at that moment, he couldn't live without Lauren, without his Lolo. All of his friends looked at him, worried, the doctor walked on.

"Joe, are you alright?" Jamie-Lyn asked.

"Maybe," he replied, not really knowing what had just been said.

"Joe, she'll wake up, I know she will," Joey replied.

Joe wasn't really paying attention anymore, the world was spinning, he couldn't imagine life without his Lolo.


	5. The Calm Before the Storm

**A/N Oh my gosh guys, I am so sorry that it's taken me so long to update! I just got distracted with another story and I was completely uninspired for this story, but then I managed to write a chapter, so here it is!**

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><p>Meredith came into the room, looking concerned, "Lauren? Are you feeling alright?"<p>

"I don't know! Everything is screwed up! Nothing feels right! I don't remember stuff that I should, like when I got married to Joe. That's something you should remember, right? I don't. I don't remember when you and Brian got married either! Shouldn't I remember when my best friends got married?" she demanded, the hysteria high in her voice.

Meredith sat down on the side of the bed, "You don't remember any of it? What's the last thing you remember?"

Lauren thought, "I remember shattering glass, and then the world went dark, but I could feel being moved somewhere."

"Well, that didn't happen last night after supper, so something is definitely wrong," Meredith reasoned, "Are you sure you haven't woken up all the way and are still dreaming?"

"Yes, because I dream about sparkles and unicorns, that was definitely not sparkles and unicorns," Lauren said, "But with it, I was in the car with you and Juls and Jaime, and some guy crashed into us."

Meredith looked really confused now, "What's a car? Is that some sort of automobile?"

"How do you not know what a car is? You have one! A Slug-bug!" Lauren asked, not understanding this at all.

While Lauren was talking, Meredith had started backing up slightly, looking very concerned. "What is a 'Slug-Bug'? I don't particularly wish to ride a slug," she finally said.

Lauren blinked, memories were rushing back to her now, but they didn't fit this world at all. There was a stage and a blonde wig, and iPhone, and all sorts of technology that this world lacked. "Mere, tell me you remember playing MegaGirl," she pleaded.

"Mere? Since when am I called Mere?" Meredith asked, panic laced in her voice. "What's MegaGirl? That doesn't sound like anything from here!"

Lauren felt her eyes beginning to fill with tears, and she looked helplessly at Meredith. "I'm in the wrong place, the wrong time, maybe even the wrong universe!" she exclaimed.

Meredith took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. "Lauren, I think you need to rest today, go back to sleep, because you are not making any sense," she finally said.

Without knowing what she was doing, Lauren felt herself nodding. She got up and walked back to their bedroom, and laid down. Sleep wasn't what she planned to do, she planned to lay there and think of how to get out of this world as well as to go over how much Doctor Who she had been watching in the past week. However, sleep did claim her.

_She heard faint voices through the darkness. They were familiar, those voices, they belonged to all of her closest friends. Julia was fussing about something, Brian and Meredith were talking to each other somewhere close to her feet, and Darren was trying to entertain the group. _

_ There was one voice missing, one very important voice that she felt certain was there somewhere. She searched desperately for it through the many different conversations going on in the room. Finally, she became aware of a certain pressure on her right hand that wasn't on her left. Focusing on that more, she realized that someone was holding her hand. Whoever that person was was just sitting there silently, holding her hand, so she had no idea who it was. _

_ Slowly, the other voices began to fade, and it was only Meredith, Brian, Jaime, and the mystery person holding her hand. When the others' voices faded, the pressure on her hand grew. "Lo," the person finally said, "Lo, I need you to come back, please. Everyone misses you, I miss you so much. You can't leave me, whatever you do, please!" _

_ Lauren marveled at how desperate Joe sounded. In the past several years of her life, she had longed for that desperation in his voice to be directed towards her, and she was finally getting it. His pleads made her try to open her eyes, but they felt heavy as lead, and she ended up just lying there, listening to Joe's voice._

While all of his friends had been in the room, talking and laughing, Joe had just sat there holding Lauren's hand. He didn't say anything when Julia got released, or when Jaime was told that she would be able to leave tomorrow, as well as when Meredith was told that she would be released in a few days. It wasn't fair, all of them were fine, but Lauren was stuck, asleep and possibly not waking up.

Eventually all of his friends left, taking Julia with them. It took even longer for the people remaining in the room to drift off to sleep. Finally, when he was the only one left awake, he started talking to Lauren. At first it was pleads for her to wake up, but when that started sounding repetitive, he talked about anything. It didn't matter what he was talking about, so long as he was talking, he figured.

Sleep did overtake him finally. It wasn't his intention, he wanted to stay up and talk to Lauren, even if she couldn't answer. Just talking to her made him feel like she might wake up soon, however much he knew that that probably wasn't the case.

In the morning, while everyone was still asleep, Lauren finally managed to get her eyes open. She surveyed the room from her position on the bed, she couldn't move the rest of her body. Jaime was asleep, breathing deeply and splayed across the bed, her covers only covering half of her body. Brian was lying next to Meredith who was snuggled up against his chest. This made Lauren smile, they had liked each other since Little White Lie, but neither had the courage to admit it.

Finally, she turned her attention to the man holding her hand, Joe. He was asleep in the hard, plastic hospital chair. She gently squeezed his hand, trying to get him to wake up. After lying there for a long time, she finally drifted off back to sleep.

Joe woke up in the wee hours in the morning; he thought he had felt something on his hand. He looked wildly around the room, and finally at Lauren, but she was still asleep. "Lauren?" he whispered after the silence had become unbearable. Her eyelids started to flutter, and Joe stopped breathing.

Her eyes opened all the way, "Joe?" she asked softly.

Without thinking, Joe leaned in and crashed his lips on hers. She kissed back hungrily, like she had been waiting for it. A couple seconds later, someone cleared their throat. Joe broke away abruptly, looking around the room, and saw Jaime sitting up and staring at them. "Hey Jaimes," he said more than a little awkwardly.

She grinned slyly, "So, I'm assuming you don't want that little exchange of spit to be known to anybody."

Joe looked at Lauren, who shook her head. "No, not particularly," he said lightly, trying to act like he wasn't completely surprised.

"Especially to the internet, I'm going to guess," she said, smiling wider.

Joe's eyes widened, "What do you mean?"

"Unfortunately, I was awake long before you, Mr. Walker, and I witnessed Lauren waking up hors ago, and I knew this was going to happen, so I filmed it when you woke up," Jaime said gleefully.

Many explicit words were on the tip of Joe's tongue, but he asked the more pressing question, "How did you film it?"

Jaime waved her iPhone in the air, "We have this magical thing called technology now, Walker."

A brilliant thing came to Joe's mind suddenly, "And why is this any worse then what Holden and Meredith have been doing?"

Jaime looked slightly taken aback at that, and said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Because the fans are already convinced that they are going out, you two, not so much."

"So you're blackmailing us?" Lauren asked.

"Oh yes," Jaime nodded.

"Isn't the whole point of blackmail to threaten someone so that you get something?" Joe asked. When Jaime nodded, he continued, "What do you want from us, Beatty?"

"Oh, nothing much, just you have to let Joey stay tonight," she said.

Joe raised his eyebrow, "But don't you get discharged today?"

"Oh, right," she mumbled.

"So I guess your flawless plan isn't so flawless," Joe smirked.

"Mark my words, I will use this against you! Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but I will get you," she threatened.

A few hours later, Jaime had been discharged, and the Doctor had marveled at how fast Lauren had woken up, and told her that she would be able to leave at the same time as Meredith in two days. It hadn't even been a day yet, and Lauren was already dreading the next two days.

After the two days had passed, both Lauren and Meredith were discharged as promised. They were both using crutches, and cussing constantly because of the restricted ability of steering. Brian was helping Meredith, and Joe was offering, yet again, to carry Lauren out of the hospital.


	6. One of Jupiter's Storms

**A/N Hey guys! Look at me! Being productive! 2 different stories updated in ONE DAY! I feel all accomplished and everything! Sorry for the long wait between this and the last chapter! I just started high school and everything, so I am still adjusting...oi...This is a fun chapter by the way...**

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><p>A year and a half had passed since the accident, and Brian and Meredith were curled up together on the couch at Julia and Lauren's place watching a movie. Lauren and Joe were supposed to have joined them for a double date, but they weren't here yet, so Julia was watching the movie with them instead.<p>

Julia looked around anxiously yet again. "Where are they?" she mumbled for the dozenth time.

Meredith sighed, "Juls, I'm sure that they're ok, after all, no one would even attempt to mug them with Joe there."

The trio fell into silence again, no one really watching the movie. Voices started to waft up the stairway, and it didn't take long for the owners of the voices to be identified, it was Lauren and Joe. This wasn't their usual playful banter, though. Their voices were raised, and they sounded very angry.

"You thought I was _flirting _with him? Why the hell would I ever flirt with Brian?" Lauren was screaming.

"Yes! You were! You never laugh like that around me!" Joe was yelling back furiously, "And you flirt with every fucking guy you talk to!"

"You're fucking delusional, Joseph! But you know what? Maybe I will flirt with them and show you how real flirting works, because obviously what I do with you means nothing!" Lauren raged.

"Delusional? How am _I _the delusional one? How is Brian spinning you around not flirting?" Joe hissed.

"We were practicing a scene! It wasn't us that was doing that it. Was. Our. Characters!" Lauren screamed, flinging the door open. "So who's ready for our double date?" she asked pleasantly.

"Well, we are, but I'm not so sure about you two," Brian said cautiously.

Joe leaned against the door frame, his fury emanating from him. "I think that if Holden is on this double date, that Meredith and I are going to be the third and fourth wheel," he announced.

Lauren burst into tears, and ran to her room. "Look what you've done!" Meredith said to Joe, and then followed Lauren.

Julia finally stood up, and faced Joe. "Walker," she growled, "I know that you're not scared of me right now, but mark my words, if you hurt Lo, I will fucking kill you. I will rip you limb from limb, and then, if your head is still in your ass, I will kick you out of Starkid."

"And just so you know, Walker, Lauren is like my little sister, and if you think I would flirt with her and hurt Mere, then you are sorely mistaken," Brian added.

"Now get out of my house," Julia threatened.

Lauren ran to her room, tears streaming down her face. Joe and her had been having problems, but they had always managed to keep it covered when they were around their friends.

Joe was just so goddamned protective, and she felt crushed under the weight of his gaze. If she even smiled at the male waiter, he asked her what she was playing at and how much she valued their relationship. She was cut off from all of her guy friends unless she was at rehearsal, and even then Joe was extremely jumpy.

The Joe in the dreams she had been having since the accident was always sweet and kind and loving. She didn't understand how the two had turned out so differently. When she was curled up on her bed so tight that she felt like no one would ever be able to break down her walls again, Meredith came in.

"Lauren?" she said softly, Lauren didn't react. "Hon, how long has this been going on?" Meredith asked, she had always been observant, and knew something was off between them long ago, but had no idea how bad it was.

Lauren started crying harder, "I don't know, forever?"

"Lo, generally when something is wrong, you break off the relationship," Meredith said softly, asking a question without actually asking it.

"But I love him!" Lauren sniffled, "He's just being a dick. Why is he being a dick?" she asked a little hysterically.

"I don't know, I just don't know," Meredith sighed. She sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing Lauren's back for a while longer until Julia came in. Julia took Meredith's place, and Meredith went back into the living room to Brian.

Julia sat there comforting the crying Lauren, and finally said, "Sweetie, I think you need to break it off with Joe."

"But he'll get mad!" she protested.

"Then he can get mad, I won't let him touch you," Julia said confidently.

Lauren sniffled again, "We're just like Ross and Rachel."

Julia laughed, "No, you're not, with Ross and Rachel it was scripted, here it's not, and you have to decide when to get out, not the scriptwriters," she added more seriously.

"But what if the same thing happens? What if we can't be in the same room without arguing for a long time? What if it completely ruins our relationship forever?" Lauren said, breaking into tears again and hysteria rising in her voice.

Julia shook her head sadly, "I don't know, sweetie, we'll have to figure it out if it does. But whatever happens, just remember that I will be there for you, ok?"

Lauren nodded, "Thanks, Juls."

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><p>Meredith came back out into the living room, and pulled Brian up from the couch, "C'mon, I don't think that the date is going to happen tonight or any night soon. And we need to tell certain members of the Team some stuff."<p>

Brian asked questions all the way down the stairs, but Meredith refused to answer any questions until they were safely in the car.

As soon as they were in the car, Brian asked the most pressing question (again), "Ok, what the hell is going on here?"

"Umm, well, LaurWalk is having mucho problemos, and it's been going on for a while. I think Lo is gonna break up with Joe, at least, I hope she does."

"Why?" Brian asked, dumbfounded.

"Joe is being a dick," she answered simply.

"How so?"

"Ross and Rachel, if that makes anything clearer," Meredith said.

"So jealously problems? How bad?" Brian asked knowingly.

"Really bad. I think he gets super protective, that's why she hasn't been talking to you boys very much recently, and when she does, Joe is always right there, looking extremely jumpy."

"How long have you known? Because Julia seemed surprised, but you didn't."

"For at least 6 months, but it's gotten really bad lately. I don't know if you've noticed, but she has stopped replying to all of the guys Tweets except for Joe's, she's not actually friends with a lot of you on Facebook, and whenever we're at a restaurant for girls night, she always asks for a girl waiter," Meredith started listing her observations.

"Wow," Brian breathed. "I had no idea. Joe needs to calm his tits down. I've never seen him get like this with any of his previous girlfriends before."

"It's because he didn't love them like he loves Lauren. He wants her to be all his and not be worried about someone stealing her away from him," Meredith said.

"How much thought have you put into this?" Brian asked incredulously.

"Not much, most of that I just thought of," Meredith admitted.

"I love you," Brian chuckled, still meaning every word.

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><p><strong>Hehe, you're welcome! Have some angst with that fic.<strong>


	7. An Incomplete Prophecy

**A/N I feel like I always start these with an apology...but here we go: sorry for taking so long. High School is a bitch, it takes up so much of your time. Umm, so yeah. Here's the next chapter, it's pretty depressing, I didn't think this story would be so depressing...**

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><p>Nick Lang was asleep on the couch with his computer in his lap. He had fallen asleep planning, again. Suddenly, and obnoxiously loudly, came Darren's version of "Raise Your Glass." Now on the defensive, Nick jumped up, saved his laptop from crashing to the ground, and looked around, ready to attack. When he realized it was just his phone, he lowered his arms and picked it up. "Jesus, whoever you are, you just scared the living shit out of me," he said, not letting the person on the other side greet him<p>

"Nicky, how many times have I told you to look at the caller ID before you pick up?" Brian's condescending voice came through the other side.

"If I looked at caller ID, I wouldn't pick up what are hopefully important calls at 1 o'clock in the morning," he replied sarcastically.

Obviously ignoring the last remark, Brian went on, "It's about Lauren and Joe."

Nick sighed in exasperation, "_This _is what you get me up at godforsaken hours in the morning for? To gossip?"

"We are not gossiping! This is serious!" Brian said defensively. "We need to keep them away from each other in rehearsals."

"If this is one of those things where you try to keep them apart to drive them crazy, I'm gonna kill you Holden," Nick growled.

Through his end of the phone, he heard a scuffle, and when Brian answered, it was actually Meredith. "This is actually really serious, Nick. They've been fighting for months, and Juls just texted me and told me that Lo's gonna break up with Joe tomorrow," she said, explaining the situation.

"Wait, they've been fighting?" Nick asked, taken aback.

"Yes, Ross and Rachel style," Meredith said a little impatiently. "We just need to make sure that they don't get too close, because Joe is more fit and violent than Ross is, especially when he's mad. Can you do that?"

"I'll see what I can do," Nick said.

"Ok, thanks! Bye!" Meredith said brightly, hanging up.

Nick rubbed his forehead, exasperated, his friends would be the death of him, and that would never change.

777

Later that day at rehearsal, Brian and Meredith were actively keeping Joe and Lauren away from each other, assigning each different tasks in completely different parts of the building. Unfortunately for Brian and Meredith, this also kept them apart. At the end of the day, they finally got to rehearse a scene together.

In the show they were doing, Brian and Meredith both played villains who were implied to be romantically involved during the entire first act. During the second act, they sang a duet together, and ended up hugging. But, just for the fans, before they would go in for the final strike on the heroes, they kissed very briefly. They were rehearsing the duet today.

Normally, the two put their all into the duet, but today they were distracted because they weren't keeping Lauren and Joe apart and who knew what was going to happen. For the first 25 minutes of their 30 minute session, everything seemed to run smoothly, but as soon as 25 minutes passed, a crash was heard from overhead. All it took was one panicked glance at Clark from both of them for him to say, "Well, you two are doing really well! Let's take a break."

Without saying anything else, Brian and Meredith took off, Meredith slightly behind. Brian took the stairs two at a time, turning the corner to see a group of Starkids, including Nick and Matt, huddled around the door. "What the hell is going on?" he gasped, still trying to catch his breath, Meredith appearing behind him.

An angry, "Shhhh!" arose from the entire group of friends.

Denise whispered, "There is some major shit going down in there!"

Meredith looked at her a bit warily, still trying to breathe normally, "Is- it-Walker-and- Lauren?" she gasped between every word.

Jaime nodded delightedly, "Just a little couple squabble!"

"I thought I told you not to let them near each other!" Brian exclaimed, glaring at Nick.

Nick nodded sheepishly, "Yeah, you did, but, ah, but, umm, well, I got distracted," he mumbled.

Meredith pushed to the front of the group, Brian following close behind, to hear the shouting.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU THINK I'M FLIRTING WITH BRIAN?" Lauren screamed.

"YOU SPENT THE ENTIRE DAY WITH HIM! DO I NEED ANY MORE PROOF?" Joe spat back with ferocity.

"YES! YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT WE WERE DOING!" came her cutting response.

"FINE! THEN WHAT WERE YOU DOING?" he said, obviously not about to believe whatever she was about to say.

"WE WERE BUILDING SETS! AND WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF I THOUGHT YOU WERE FLIRTING WITH MEREDITH BECAUSE YOU WERE HANGING OUT ALL DAY!" Lauren screamed, animosity dripping from her voice.

"I WAS NOT! I WOULD NEVER CHEAT ON YOU!"

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW THAT? YOU'VE DEFINITELY BEEN LOOKING AT HER LIKE YOU LOOK AT THE HOT WAITRESSES!" Meredith looked appalled, and Brian was fuming.

"I'm gonna beat that dick up," he growled.

"Has he really been looking at me?" Meredith turned and asked Denise, who nodded, afraid of what would happen.

"I WAS NOT! AND I DON'T LOOK AT HOT WAITRESSES HOWEVER MUCH I WANT TO!" Joe spluttered.

Something crashed in the room, and the rest of the Starkids began to understand what was going on, that this wasn't just a couple's spat and was a legitimate fight.

"YOU WANTED TO LOOK AT THE HOT WAITRESSES?" Lauren spat. "WAS I NOT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?"

"OF COURSE-"

"OF COURSE WHAT? OF COURSE NOT?"

Brian and Meredith looked at each other, and opened the door. A sight greeting them that they never though they would see: Joe was standing over Lauren, his arm raised, ready to hit her, and Lauren was cowering underneath.

Meredith screamed, and Brian yelped in surprise. Lauren backed up a step and collapsed on the floor, and Joe looked at his hand like it was foreign to him.

"Joseph Walker," Julia started, her motherly tone enough to scare even the bravest of soldiers.

But before she could go any further, Lauren stood up, having recovered from her fall, and stated firmly, "We. Are. Through."

Joe nodded, looking immensely guilty. "Lo, I'm sorry," he said before leaving the room, looking back. The men all followed him, looking ready to beat him up.

After the men had left, Lauren sank to the floor, her body wracking with sobs. Julia knelt down beside her, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders, her eyes blazing with fury.

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><p><strong>Hi again, sorry about that. Just a quick question, should I end this here? Or should I keep going into an abyss of who knows what? I would really love it if you told me what you thought! Thanks!<strong>


	8. Love is all you need

**A/N *slinks back in* Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry for leaving you there and telling you I might not be back! And I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter to come! But it's here! And it is the final chapter of this story. Thank you all for keeping me going, I came back and read all the reviews for this story today and that's why I finished. To CWP (who asked for a Bropez fic), I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I just cannot write that ship. To Gueeeeest (who reminded me about the video), thank you so much, I'd completely forgotten about it. I love you all so much! And now you cannot come hunt me down!**

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

A year had passed since the breakup. Lauren still wasn't back in the dating scene, all faith in guys had been viciously smeared across the floor of the theatre. Joe had thrown himself back into the dating scene quickly, his relationships never lasting more than a night. The Team watched all of this from a distance, not wanting to stir any flames that might still be there. But after watching Lauren have breakdown after breakdown, the Team divided into two each night in order to keep them apart from each other. Each night, different people took the Lauren shift, and different people took the Joe shift.

Eventually, Lauren stopped going out with the Team every night. Soon after that, Joe broke off from the main group and went out on his own. After a month or two at a bar, he had to switch which one he frequented when his reputation started preceding him. He formally quit Starkid a short while after his 3rd bar, and moved to LA, and then lost contact with the rest of the group. Lauren moved back in with Julia after the breakup and hadn't moved since.

Brian and Meredith had gotten engaged seven months after the breakup and had a wedding date set for a few months later. Through some bribery, they had gotten Joe's address and sent him an invitation for their wedding, still considering him one of their best friends. The response came in a few weeks before the wedding and he was coming-stag.

After much discussion, they decided not to tell anyone he was coming, hoping that it would be a happy reunion. They did warn Julia, though, just in case something happened.

The big day came, Brian was waiting in center stage, they had decided to get married in a theatre. He scanned the crowd, looking for a guest he hadn't heard from in almost a year. Just as the music started, he saw the man he was looking for slip in at the back. He had no time for a reaction, though, because just then the procession started. Bella was the flower girl and Sebastian was the ring bearer. The bridesmaids came in next, Lauren, Julia, Jaime, and then Denise came in as the Maid of Honor. Then Meredith walked in, she was absolutely stunning.

The ceremony went by beautifully and without any flaws. On the way out, Brian muttered to Meredith, "He's here."

Meredith looked at him, a little shocked, neither had been sure he was actually going to come. She glanced around the crowd of people, looking for the tall, blue-eyed figure. "Are you sure?" she asked when she couldn't find him.

Brian nodded, "Positive."

"Maybe he had to pee?" Meredith asked.

"Maybe," Brian said, scanning the room as well. When he didn't find him, he shrugged and said, "Let's just not worry about it and get to the reception."

At the reception he was nowhere to be found for about an hour, and then there he was, leaned against the wall, watching the dancing couple with a smile, like he hadn't left for months. After the dance, Brian and Meredith left the dance floor, discussing a game plan of how to approach him, eventually it was decided that Brian should go up to him, as Meredith's dress was too noticeable.

Meredith watched the exchange, not entirely sure what was happening, unable to read Brian's facial expressions because he was facing the opposite direction. Joe kept his emotions closely guarded, also trying to not be noticed.

Meredith got interrupted from watching when Lauren came up to her, giggling and obviously a bit tipsy. "Did you see Joe over there?" she asked with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, I did. Are you okay?" Meredith said slowly.

Lauren nodded happily, "Yeah I'm great!" She grabbed a glass of champagne from the table Meredith was sitting at, not caring whose it was. "I didn't expect to see him, though, this is definitely not LA," she said bouncing on the balls of her feet, an accomplishment given that she was wearing towering heels. After sneaking a glance at him, she said in a drastically quieter voice, "I was thinking about going to talk to him."

Meredith's eyes widened, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Nope! But I'm gonna do it anyways!" Lauren giggled, and then bounced away.

Meredith shook her head, hoping that nothing too bad would happen, but feeling powerless to stop it. A few minutes later, Julia approached her, "Have you seen Lo?"

"A few minutes ago, why?" Meredith asked, worried.

Julia pulled up a chair next to Meredith, "It's just she started drinking a lot a while ago, I don't know why."

Realization dawned on Meredith, "She saw Joe."

"Joe?" Julia spluttered, "He actually showed up?"

"Yeah, he's over there, Brian's talking to him right now," Meredith said, tilting her head in their direction, and saw Brian replaced by Lauren.

"Shit," she and Julia said in unison. They were already too late to stop the exchange from happening, so they sat there and watched in case it escalated. Luckily for them, someone else cut into the conversation, it looked like Jaime.

Joe looked slightly disappointed, but before they could see anything else that happened, Brian came back, slipping his arms around Meredith's shoulders. "So what happened?" Meredith asked eagerly.

"Nothing much, he seems like he's really sorry for what he did. I think he's thinking about moving back here, he kind of struck out in LA. And he feels really bad about Lo," Brian said, covering everything quickly.

Julia looked over at him, "Once, I told him that if he hurt her, I was going to kill him. Can I still kill him?"

"I think that the breakup already did that to him," Brian said.

The group looked over at Jaime, who was waving her phone in front of the two, and saying what looked like, "I still have the video!" The looks on Lauren and Joe's faces were priceless, both scared shitless and longing at the same time.

What Jaime actually said was revealed months later, in a joking manner, Lauren and Joe both keeled over laughing and trying not to drop the watermelon pieces they were holding. It was something along the lines of, "I swear you two, I still have the video. And I've seen how wrecked both of you are without each other. I will show this video to everyone else if you don't go make up your differences. I still have the video." It was only funny in retrospect because of how serious she had been when she said it.

"Video? What video?" Meredith whispered.

"I have no clue," Julia said, "But I really want to find out."

A few hours later, with plenty of assistance from alcohol, Joe and Lauren were found on the dance floor, swaying together, Joe's hands on Lauren's hips and her arms wrapped around his neck. Just as the song ended, Joe whispered, "Lauren, I missed you so much."

"I know. I still love you."

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><p><strong>I hope you liked it! I hope the ending was at least sort of realistic, I'm sorry I didn't put them talking in it, I want you all to imagine what went down there. <strong>

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

**Sarah**


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